Some days you’re the windshield and some days you’re the bug. The next day after putting a big number up against Boston, the Orioles were on the receiving end of an ugly beatdown. By the time the dust settled, the O’s fell back below .500 with a 17-1 demolition at the hands of their last place division rivals. So much for the idea of building on that momentum. The Orioles remain winless against left-handed starting pitchers in the 2026 season.
The two teams traded zeroes in the first inning before
things veered off the rails for the Orioles in the second. Starting pitcher Trevor Rogers, last year’s incredible revelation, continued to look like he’s not going to be able to repeat that form or anything close to it. Rogers simply could not make good pitches to consistently put people away once he got them to two strikes, and the result was that he saw his pitch count balloon in a second inning that he was not able to complete.
Rogers got the hook with the bases loaded and two outs in the second inning, having already allowed three runs on four hits and two walks. Only Tyler Wells coming in and stranding all of the inherited runners kept Rogers from taking an even rougher hit to his ERA. As it is, he’s up to 4.75 on the season with this clunker added to his last outing. It’s not what the Orioles needed today or what they need over the remainder of the season. This is a challenge that they are going to have to work hard to solve.
Still, the game remained in reach until the top of the fifth inning. The Orioles “only” trailed 4-0 up to that point. Reliever Albert Suárez, who was already charged with an unearned run in the fourth, was victimized again by his defense in the fifth. A throwing error by Jeremiah Jackson eventually resulted in three unearned runs crossing the plate in the inning and the Orioles were then behind by seven runs.
Suárez, who had not pitched in six days, could have helped more to pitch his way out of this jam, but the scoring is what it is. This was one of three errors committed by the Orioles in an overall uninspiring game.
The offense was just as uninspiring. They faced a tough task, if you are in the mood to be fair to them. The Red Sox starter was last year’s AL Cy Young runner-up, Garrett Crochet. Although Crochet has had a couple of rough outings early this season, he’s had a couple of very good ones too. At least on Saturday against the Orioles, it looked like he’d fixed his problems. Crochet allowed just three hits and two walks over his six shutout innings. The lone O’s run scored was also unearned; an error committed by Caleb Durbin put the unearned run on the stat line for reliever Greg Weissert.
What really made it embarrassing for the Orioles was Keegan Akin, fresh off the injured list to pitch in his first outing of the season. Akin, again if you are in the mood to be fair, did pitch one scoreless inning after coming into the game in the eighth inning. The problem was he was tasked with pitching the ninth as well, and, uh, he was not up to that task. By which I mean he gave up six runs in the ninth inning before the O’s turned to position player Weston Wilson to pitch. That’s a 54.00 ERA for Akin’s 2026. He’s going to have to put up a lot of zeroes to make up for that.
There was a time where position players pitching was fun. That time has largely passed. The only thing we can say for Wilson is he gave up fewer runs than Akin, allowing four to score while managing to get three outs and end the thing. Wilson had pitched a few previous times in his career and brought a 0.00 ERA into this contest. That perfection has been wrecked.
The teams will play one more on Sunday afternoon with a 1:35 scheduled start time to settle who is the winner of this three-game set. Kyle Bradish is set to make the start for the Orioles. The O’s hitters will have another chance to try to solve a lefty starter, with rookie Red Sox pitcher Connelly Early on the mound. The 24-year-old brings a 2.88 ERA through five games into the outing. He has to feel pretty good about his chances, given what he saw these dudes do against Crochet today.
